Science Fiction for Old Farts

The Top 10 (Pre-1950) Coolest SF Pulp Magazine Spaceships

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And now –

THE TOP TEN COOLEST

SF PULP MAGAZINE

SPACESHIPS

I love spaceships. Find me a science fiction fan who doesn’t. Such a creature does not exist.

Next to B.E.M.s, rayguns and scantily clad women in peril (there’s a new SF acronym for you – SCWIPs!), spaceships are about as iconic as you can get.

I went through a lot of agony whittling this list down to just ten. I could have put a hundred up here and still had some left over, but whittle I did. Not enough to get down to only ten though, so I had to break things up into a Pre-’50s Top Ten and a Post-50’s Top Ten (TWO top ten lists for the price of one) and here they both are, starting in chronological order:

The Top Ten (Pre-1950) COOLEST SF Pulp Magazine Spaceships –

Amazing Stories February 1928

The FIRST death star. Proportionally about the same size too. Hmmmm.

Science Wonder Quarterly Fall 1929

Pretty – and note the ship’s name – ferryman of the styx. (The scale is revealed by the astronaut walking ON the hull.)

Amazing Stories April 1943

I love the sense of scale in this cover. The robot isn’t too bad either.

Astounding Stories August 1934

You simply CAN NOT talk about spaceships without at least one mention of the Skylark – the worlds first interstellar cruiser!

Astounding Science Fiction July 1938

I featured this cover in my Pulp Comic Fairy Tale. Obviously it has made an impression. I think there are two elements that do it for me – first, the sheer size of the ship itself and second, the contrast of this enormous space liner dwarfed by the starfield behind it.

Astounding Science Fiction February 1939

No gallery of pulp cover spaceships is complete without a CRASHED spaceship. I like the detail of the grave and the angled escape ladder.

Dynamic Science Storires February 1939

I loved this image the minute I set eyes on it. This is, in fact, the cover for the first pulp I ever purchased. Nearly 70 years later the colors are just as vibrant as the day it first hit the stands.

Startling Stories November 1939

What are spaceships for but to escape the dying Earth (or colonize new worlds)? This issue of Startling is most notable for the appearance of Weinbaum’s first (and most famous) story.

I like how over-sized the lions on the left are. I guess the people up front don’t have tickets.

Astounding Science Fiction May 1945

I think this cover appeals because the story it depicts is one of my all time favorites – THE seminal tale of our first contact with an alien species. Which of the two ship’s do you think is the Terran one?

New Worlds January 1949

This is such a pulpy spaceship. The sense of power, and the sense of wonder come right through.